Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

A menu with a difference

Super Supper “Murder on the Menu” promises to thrill and amuse.

Supper theatre is a misnomer. The name implies the predominance of food. But the form continues to be about theatre. Director Raell Padamsee with her production, “Murder on the Menu”, hopes to prove this tonight at The Ashok hotel.

“Murder on the Menu”, conceived by ACE Productions, is an interactive murder mystery. Speaking from Mumbai, Raell says that the play blurs the boundary between the actors and the audience. All entries and exists occur through the audience. The guests are seated at “Luigi’s Restaurant”, and this is where the action of the play happens too. During the intermission, the audience is asked to hazard a guess on the real murderer. This keeps the play interactive throughout.

Raell says of supper theatre, “It’s a very, very interesting way to sit back and enjoy theatre. The main thing is that there’s no service during the show. People often have the misconception that there’s food during the show. But that’s not true.” The main attraction for her is the absence of the “fourth wall” in this form. The fourth wall is that invisible wall that forever separates the audience from the actors. Bringing the actual restaurant into the action of the play and interacting with the audience ensures that this division is broken. Manjula Arun, the General Manager, PR, of The Ashok, feels that supper theatre is exciting not only for the in-house guests, but also for the invited guests and finally the production houses.

Daughter of the iconic advertising guru and theatre personality Alyque Padamsee and well-known theatre actress Pearl Padamsee, Raell has theatre in her DNA. While she used to act a “long time ago”, she has stuck to the director’s and producer’s mantle with her Production Company ACE Productions. She recalls, “Our home was a theatre. The drawing room was the stage, which opened onto the terrace. The audience used to sit there.” As a child, she had the privilege of serving tea and food to the guests. While she did perform as a child, she especially recalls winning a house trophy for “Day of Atonement”, based on the Holocaust. She won the trophy instituted in her sister’s name, who had passed away. That prize, she holds especially dear.

Raell’s theatre work has been divided between adults and children, “two very separate entities,” she emphasises. She recently staged “Anything but Love” with Mandira Bedi and “Macbeth” with Lushin Dubey. But she is most excited about the work of Little Actor’s Club. They recently put up a “very spectacular” performance with 350 children, titled “Freedom.” She says, “It was a performance by the kids, of the kids, for the kids.” A joint-effort by five NGOs and mainstream schools, the play involved 17 set changes. It will also be staged on Independence Day in Mumbai. Raell will soon be travelling with “Noises of” — “a lovely play,” she asserts. For the moment though it is time for supper theatre at The Ashok.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail